Thursday, April 17, 2008

Trash to Treasure update

I've been chugging along on my Trash to Treasure quilt.

Considering all this fabric was free, and I do appreciate free fabric, I haven't wanted to talk bad about it. But the truth is, it's ugly. There I said it! It's ugly! It's not all ugly, there are a few genuinely cool fabrics, and a few that used to be pretty, but aren't so much anymore. But overall there's no consistency of color or pattern. Fabrics go in and out of style frequently and if you're bringing fabric together from several collections from over a couple of decades... you're going to get a total mish-mash.



But I've discovered a certain joy in working with ugly, mismatched fabrics. It doesn't matter which two fabrics I put together, because none of them look *good* together. It'll be what it'll be. The end result might end up really ugly, or it might be somehow transcend it's own ugliness and become something beautiful. Who knows. It's an experiment, and in the end alll I really want is a quilt. A quilt kinda like this one.
I found it online a few years ago and printed out the picture because it looks like the quintessential scrap quilt.



Here's what my half-square triangles look like so far.
I've got them set up in pinwheels already because it recently occurred to me that I can't use my usual 2 by 2 method of sewing up the blocks because it will matter which way the pinwheels are turning.


I'm thinking about setting this aside for a minute. I have a lot of gorgeous fabrics in my stash, fabrics that I just adore... and am thinking maybe I'd rather be working with them right now. But then I was thinking, if I'm going to work on a different project, I should probably pull out my flying geese quilt again. So who knows what's next.






8 comments:

Bezzie said...

I swear to god I recognize some of those fabrics from my mom's stash. It's circa mid-80s/early 90s for sure!

Olga said...

Lookin like an Amish corn whiskey overdose to me, so yeah, lookin purty.

Mag said...

That is the quilt's genesis, trash to treasure. Making up a bankie out of old worn out dresses and shirts. It's only us modern peeps who've done a 180 who take new nice fabrics and cut them up into a million pieces for art. ;-)

Rebel said...

bezzie - your mom needs a blog! Or at least a guest appearance on yours.

olga - "Amish Corn Whiskey Overdose"

magatha - it's true, and a little messed up... but fun!

T is said...

I say push through it. I think it will look better then you think when it is done!

Zonda said...

Well you know, pull it out when you want something to quilt, you know if you are bored, then save your nice fabrics when you feel inspired...or something like that. It'll be a good sturdy quilt and who knows, you may end up liking it more! :)

Michael5000 said...

Those are looking great...

Rebel said...

Oh - olga... that was supposed to say "Amish Corn Whiskey Overdose" is my new favorite expression... I just forgot to type the rest. LOL! Must have been an Amish Corn Whiskey Overdose moment ;)

Zonda - I debated & debated this weekend, I even pulled out the fabric for a new quilt but couldn't cut. I'm going to try to get this one done before I start something else.

M5K - thanks... I'm eager to see your Quilt Storm Quilts too!